- The USA is one of the biggest countries in the world, so it’s no wonder that we know a lot about this country from news, movies and friends. However, in this article we have collected the most interesting and the least trivial facts about the US.
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Inventions
- First Ferris wheel in the world
- Was built in Chicago on the worldwide exhibition of Columbus in 1893. It could take as many as 2160 passengers at once!
- First supercomputer
- Was created in Minnesota in 1963 by Control Date Corporation. Three years later the US government didn’t let CDC export the computer to France to sabotage the French atomic program.
- First sunscreen
- Was created in Miami Beach in 1944 by a pharmacist Benjamin Green.
- Cotton candy machine
- Was created by a dentist William Morrison and a confectioner John Wharton in Nashville in 1897.
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Prohibitions
- Blue jeans
- Are prohibited to wear on Noble Street in Anniston, Alabama. It is thought that this prohibition was made in order to emphasize the nobility on the town.
- Sexually explicit material
- 400 sexual words were cut out of «Romeo and Juliet» in New Mexico.
- Another thing that is prohibited in New Mexico is
- Dancing in sombrero!
- Cacti under law protection
- Anyone who deals any harm to a rare kind of cacti might spend up to a year in jail.
- Be careful with soap
- A thief who steals soap in Arizona must be washed with it until the piece ends.
- There is a law
- That states that all cats in Cresskill must wear three bells to warn birds about the upcoming threat.
- No room for parts
- In Long Beach the only thing you can keep in your garage is a car.
- Manners!
- In Lafayette you can be prosecuted for spitting closer than 1 meter to others.
- Plates under protection
- You can’t break more than 3 plates a day in Florida.
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Sad Facts
- Grand Canyon in numbers
- 55 people died because they fell in the Canyon. 39 of them were men. 8 of the men fell trying to make a great photo.
- Whisky
- Jack Daniel, the man who created a famous whisky brand, died in a very silly manner. He came to work early in the morning and tried to open a safe. He forgot the password and kicked it as much as he could. What he got was a fractured toe and an infection that killed him.
- The tallest man in history
- Died when he was 22. Robert Wadlow was the tallest man in history according to the Guinness Book of Records. When he was just 8 years old he was as tall as 188 centimeters. At the age of 9 he could lift his father. Because of his great weight his joints needed crutches, one of which was the reason why he got a blood infection and died. He was 272 centimeters tall when he died.
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Peculiar facts
- English is not the official language
- There is no official language in the US, although English is of course the most used language in the country.
- A pin monument
- Is in the center of Philadelphia. It is 15 meters tall.
- Because it’s 2016
- In the beginning of last summer a monument of selfie was installed.
- Mayor Stubbs
- Lives in Talkeetna, Alaska. The thing is, he is a cat.
- No murders
- Have ever been committed in Slaughter, Texas. How ironic!
- Food
- The first hamburger
- Was cooked in Athens, Texas.
- A wedding in Dunkin’ Donuts
- Two people who loved coffee, donuts and each other decided to get married in a restaurant in Philadelphia in 2005.
- Mars Inc.
- Was founded in Minneapolis in 1920 and gave the world Milky Way, Snickers and others.
- In Pennsylvania
- Chips are loved. There are 6 companies that produce them.
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Other facts
- 1 April 1974
- A pranker set hundreds of tyres on fire in a dormant volcano so that everybody would think that eruption is coming. People believed it, so a helicopter was called immediately. When the pilot was right above the volcano he couldn’t believe his eyes: there were burning words «April Fool».
- Famous Einstein photo
- Was taken in New Jersey near Princeton University where the physicist worked (14 March 1951) and celebrated his birthday that day. When Einstein got into the car a journalist asked him to make photo. Einstein showed his tongue the man and thought he wouldn’t have time to take a photo. But the journalist did.
- Midnight Sun
- In some parts of Alaska the sun doesn’t go down for 84 days. For instance, in Barrow there might be 84 days without a sundown.
- What surprising facts do you know about the US? Share in comments!